Of Silk and Lace
by Cap'n Coree
Summary: He can't save her if she doesn't want to be saved. JinxFuu
1. Kiyo: Skin Of Another Woman

**Of Silk and Lace**

_cap'n coree_

**Chapter One: Kiyo, The Skin Of Another Woman**

They dress you up in lace and silk. The kimonos are sheer and soft, and sometimes it feels like you're wearing the billowing clouds. They cover you in the most elegant makeup and scents. They dress you up until you don't feel like yourself anymore. You're no longer just some plain old village girl, you're no longer an innocent child. They change you. The clothes and makeup change you just as much as the men who you take to bed everynight. You forget your own face. They supply you with a new identity. You hide in it, and forget who you were...or you crumble.

Fuu was no longer Fuu. She was beautiful, quiet, and thin. She didn't eat much. She took up smoking. She got along with everyone, but kept to herself. Everyone tended to in this industry. It wasn't as seedy as most of the whorehouses she could have ended up in. She hadn't been tricked, or kidnapped. She simply gave up. She sold herself into the skin of a new woman. She was as happy as someone could be, when they're compromising their morals. She lived in Kyoto, which she thought was a beautiful city, and had the whole day off to herself, and some nights that weren't too busy. The crying had ceased. It died along with Fuu long ago. She wasn't a little girl anymore. She didn't think about her father. She didn't believe in Fairy Tales. She couldn't even remember Jin or Mugen.

She never thought of escape.

"Kiyo!" a shrill, childish voice called, and suddenly Fuu was tackled to the ground, tiny arms weaving themselves around her neck. Fuu smilled faintly and put her hand on the thin arm around her neck.

"Mame," she said, turning to look at the young girl clinging to her. "You're up early." Mame had been in the whorehouse since she was 13. She was now 15, if Fuu was right. Fuu had been here for three years nearly. It'd been three years since she had found her father, three years since they left her defenseless. Three years. She didn't remember anything before this. She only knew what Kiyo could know. This was the fragile reality in which she learned to live. In which Mame, young as she was, learned to live. Fuu was fond of Mame. It was the closest thing to a friend she had in this place, and it was nice to have someone you could trust. Someone who wouldn't steal your tips, or customers. Someone you could spend your free time with. When she was with Mame, she could laugh without her throat clenching. She could eat without tasting sandpaper.

Mame had it harder than Fuu. She was sold into this so young. In a way, it had been better, being so young. She adapted easier. She didn't know, like Fuu knew, that what had happened to her was wrong. Her father had sold her into this. Fuu knew, not because Mame had told her, but because she was there the night it happened. Her kimono was the one that Mame soaked with her tears. Only, then she wasn't Mame. She was Miko. Sad, little Miko. She didn't even have breasts yet. Fuu was disgusted that they put her to work so young. She had even had a fight with the Mother about it, and had recieved a lashing.

"Can't you just make her do household chores!" Fuu had screamed, outraged, when she found Mother doing Miko's makeup.

"She was sold to me as a whore, not a maid. We have no need of maids here."

"She's too young! I swear if you put her to work-" But Fuu didn't know what she'd do. She had given up the idea of escaping. She had put herself here. But this girl... She was so young...

"Kiyo, you've never spoken out like this before. I know this must upset you, but its something you have to get used to in this buisness. You're one of the best Kiyo- and I don't want to take away any of your rights.."

"But it isn't right! No one will buy her anyway-"

"There are those that will." Mother said softly, looking away from Fuu, and staring at the quiet sobbing girl in the mirror. "Don't cry, your makeup will run. Crying only attracts bad men." Fuu flinched, thinking of the few _'bad' _men she had gotten early on in her career. This poor girl. But she obeyed, and somehow stopped the flow of tears.

"Kiyo, she'll survive." Mother said, "and I know you feel bad. But I still have to punish you, you know-"

Mother was fair. As fair as whorehouse mothers go. Since then Mame started looking to Fuu as a big sister. Fuu protected her, as much as she could. She taught her what herbs would do what- what could stop the stinging you felt after a rough night, what could keep pregnancy away. Fuu almost came back to life, helping Mame. Sometimes she was tempted to tell Mame her real name, or things about her father or mother, but she never did.

Now Mame was adjusted to the craft, but she hadn't stopped looking up to Fuu. Or Kiyo.

"Mame wants to go out with Kiyo today," Mame said, clinging to Fuu, "Mame hasn't been out all week." They were allowed out, every now and then, if they behaved. Sometimes they were escorted through town by bodyguards, other times they were tailed secretly, to give them a false sense of freedom, but Fuu knew. She wasn't dumb, and she knew when she was being watched.

Fuu stood up, the younger girl still clinging to her shoulders, wrapping her legs around Fuu's waist. Fuu felt silly, letting Mame hang off her like this, and knew some of the girls whispered about it behind their backs. But being 'girlfriends' wasn't rare at all in a whorehouse. Often, it was the only means of comfort they had against the cruel, dirty embraces men gave them at night. You had to look somewhere for love, and looking for it in customers...Well, that was unheard of.

"Let's go ask Mother for permission then, alright, Mame?" Mame cheered and tightened her grasp around Fuu's waist and neck.

"Let's go Kiyoo," she chanted as Fuu piggy-backed her to Mother's room. She wrapped lightly on the door, waiting several seconds before Mothers wheezing voice called from behind the screen.

"Mother, its Kiyo and Mame, may we come in?"

"Oh, yes, dear." Mother weezed, Fuu slid open the door and entered, setting Mame on the ground, and sitting.

Fuu bowed, and Mame followed suit. "Mother, can Mame and I go out to town today?" Mother regarded them for several tense moments before nodding stiffly. They bowed once more and went to excuse themselves when Mother told Fuu to stay.

"I'd like to talk to you alone Kiyo." Mame looked at Mother and Fuu, frightened. "Don't worry, she isn't in any trouble. She'll be out in a moment." Mame nodded, still worried, but left the room anyway.

"Kiyo as you know, I'm getting old." That was an understatement, but Fuu knew that Mother had a good many years left in her. Her type had a way of hanging on. "Soon, I will pass my house on to someone. The role of Mother is important. I don't run this house like most whorehouses. I try to make my girls as happy as possible. Thats why it's a hard choice to make. I want to choose someone who will go on making the girls comfortable. We've never had a runaway, have we, Kiyo?"

"No, Mother, never."

"I love my girls.That's how a Mother should be. Alot of women become hardened in this type of work. They become mean, and uncaring, don't they, Kiyo?"

"Yes, Mother."

"But you, Kiyo, you still care. I can tell because of how you watch over the younger girls. This is how it should be. There are lots of women who have worked here longer than you. They know more about buisness, but they don't have what you have. You haven't lost heart have you, Kiyo?"

Fuu bit her bottom lip. She had lost Fuu, hadn't she? Hadn't she lost heart? Had Mother only known her before... But no, Kiyo still had some heart left. "No, Mother, I haven't."

"That is why I would like to pass the role of Mother down to you. It will be a long time before I start to train you, but when that time comes and if you haven't lost your heart, I'd like to make you my apprentice."

The news hit Fuu hard. True, she had been expecting it. She knew she was Mother's favourite. Some of the bitter older girls called her "Mother's Pet" and sneered at her. She had a way of getting out of more chores than others, and she was allowed out more. Yes, she knew Mother doted on her. But to buy and sell flesh... To take in girls and force them to lose what she lost.. Could she really handle it? She didn't want such responsiabillity. Sure, it had it's perks. She would no longer be expected to bed men and clean house. She could go out when she wanted. She could save Mame alot of trouble, even free her if she wanted.. But still...

Could she really sell women as slaves as she had been sold?

Fuu forced a look of delight and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Mother!"

"Now, don't tell anyone. You can tell Mame, because I suspect you will no matter what I say, but remember, it isn't official yet, and I can change my mind."

"Thank you, Mother!" she said again, bowing deeply. Mother smiled, pleased,and dismissed Fuu.

"What'd she want to talk about?" Mame asked when Fuu stepped out.

"She wants to make me her apprentice."

"Thats great Kiyo!" Mame cheered.

"Yeah.." Fuu muttered, "Great.."

-----

A.N. I was working on another piece, where Fuu is a rich merchants mistress, but Im not sure Im going to work with that one. Its awful close to this one. I figure this is going to be a JinxFuu the other was going to be MuxFu.. and I'm thinking of working on one where Fuu works in the circus. XD that one is going to be a MuxFu. I might continue the other MuxFu but I dont want to start too much at once. Tell me what you think. 3 cap'ncoree


	2. The Fine Art Of Making It Out Alive

**Of Silk And Lace**

_cap'n coree_

**Chapter Two: The Fine Art Of Making It Out Alive**

"Oooooooh, look at that!" Mame cheered, pointing in one of the shop windows, "And that! OHHHH And That." Fuu sighed while Mame clutched her arm and pulled her from shop to shop, unaware of the burly man following three feet away. Oh, to be that blissfully ignorant. To believe on is free to do what one wants. "OOH I love Kyoto!"

"Thats right, you weren't raised here, were you?" Fuu said idly, knowing all the while that Mame was a country girl. Fuu found that, although most girls didn't like to talk about the past, Mame loved it.

"No, I was raised on a small farm." She said, staring in awe at a beautiful kimono spread over a table. Fuu knew the whole story already. Her mother died when she was young. She was the oldest of five children. She had a sheep she called Baabaa and one day it had run away. "Were you?"

"Hnn?"

"Were you raised in Kyoto? I don't know very much about you, Kiyo. Not even where you were born. How'd you come to be here?"

"Oh, no. I wasn't raised in Kyoto." Fuu said, evading any other questions.

"Then you must find it as amazing as I do!" Fuu shrugged, finding it hard to look at this place as "amazing" when she was living here as a whore. It cast Kyoto in a certian shifty light for Fuu.

Fuu scanned the horizon for one bit of Kyoto that might not be tainted, and suddenly it caught her eye. It was foreign, something from outside Kyoto, and therefore, outside Kiyo's memory, but familiar, something Fuu knew all to well. She had, after all, spent a good deal of time staring at it. It was a head. Complete with a face, a mass of hair tied tightly back into a high pony tail, and a set of glasses. It was making its way through the crowd effortlessly, as if advancement was all that mattered, and its eyes were locked on Fuu.

"Kiyo, what's wrong?" Mame said, waving a hand in front of her face. Fuu spun on her heel, and pointed in the opposite direction.

"Look! OVER THERE! Isn't that a cute store?"

"OHWOWWHERE!" Mame shouted, dragging Fuu down the street towards the imaginary store. Thankfully, in a fit of shopping passion, Mame was faster than any other creature on earth. Fuu frowned, glancing over her shoulder to see if she had lost him, her insides churning with fear. She should have been happy to see him. Hopeful.Excited She could even leave if she wanted, run off into the wild blue with Jin. Surely he wouldn't leave her- but then again he must be on his way to find _her._ But no, _she _didn't matter anymore, not to Kiyo, who had never known her, nor the man she enticed, much to the jealousy of a pouty 15 year old girl. No, Kiyo was a woman, a woman with no time to care about some ronin she saw in the streets.. She knew this man as nothing more then another possiable john.

Jin couldn't understand it. He had seen her. She had changed, but it had surely been her, and she had seen him. Then where did she go? How did she just vanish? Why was he searching every inch of the town for her, if obviously she didn't want to be found? But it couldn't be that. No, Fuu would not hide from him. Maybe she had to be somewhere. Maybe she hadn't seen him. Maybe she was kidnapped! Yes! That was probably it. Fuu had been kidnapped, once again. Old habits do die hard.

But she didn't look like the Fuu that Jin had known. Oh, she did, but at the same time, she didn't. Fuu was always a little girl in Jin's eyes. Scrawny, shapeless, and full of pep and dreams. But this Fuu, this Fuu was a woman, and Jin should have expected such. It had been three years after all. He had never expected she'd grow up to look like this, though. She was nothing short of beautiful. Her hair wasn't much longer, but she wore it down, and she was wearing makeup. She was leaner, and she wore a tight, black kimono with red stiching, and a red obi tied in a large bow in the front. Her breasts were much fuller, and she looked taller, but Jin wasn't sure if she had really grown, or if it merely seemed so because she was proportioned better.

The thought of Fuu growing up pained Jin. In his mind she was always that innocent little girl so filled with pride and fury. She had brought meaning, if only for a short time, into Jin's life. Now, all he did was wait patiently for the day he could collect Shino and try to regain some of the meaning he had lost when he had parted ways with his companions at the crossroads.

Jin scanned the streets as he walked on, aimless. A pouch full of money jingled-and-jangled a merry tune inside his robes as he walked, but he felt no need to search for an inn, or locate food, although his stomach complained with each step of the way. No, he had but one goal, to find the magical, disappearing Fuu. Each teahouse he entered he stopped only long enough to describe her, and see if anyone knew where he could find her. Afterwards, he left. No one recalled the name Fuu, and no matter how tasty the food smelled, he always left to find the next place he thought Fuu might frequent. Finally, close to giving up, he wandered into a shabby gambling establishment. Maybe Fuu had become a dice thrower. She talked about it, not often, but he had seen her once, and she had seemed pretty into it.

"Hello." Jin said, approaching a man at the table, his hand full of cards. "I was wondering if you could help me out.."

"Hrmph..." the old man grunted. Jin ignored him and continued.

"Have you seen a girl around her, chesnut hair, hazel eyes, around 18 to 19? She was wearing a black kimono earlier- she's very pretty," Jin forced out, "Her name is-"

"Kiyo." The old man grunted, "Just about the best damn brothel girl in this city, but she don't work somewhere trashy like this. Nah, yer got teh head yerself to the large building, bout six houses down. Ye'll know it when yeh see it, like a god damn palace it is. Never had the money to go there meself, and certianly never had teh cash for someone as fancy as that Kiyo, but it don't hurt teh look."

"Hm, the girl I'm looking for isn't from a brothel-"

"Well then, ain't noone like that in this town, er atleast noone I've met." Jin sighed, and left the gambling house. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to check out this brothel. Fuu could have gotten herself kidnapped but-

_'best damn brothel girl..'_

It couldn't be, could it? Jin wouldn't let it be! But his heart was aching. He had to confirm that this was not the truth- that innocent little Fuu was still-

_She stood up-road, her eyes locking with his own. Her eyelids were caked with red paint, as were her lips. Her face was painted white, like an attractive corpse, and her cheeks painted with a mellow blush. Her kimono was tied loosely together with a red obi, causing it to bunch at the hips, and expose some of her now-full breasts- _

Innocent little Fuu...

Not that Kiko or Kiyo girl the man had mentioned.

It just couldn't be...

He was approaching the 'establishment' the man had described earlier. Outside torches were lit on either side of a set of cages, and a men were gathering around them in the road. Several were cat calling, and larger men were patrolling the area to make sure none of them got anything they didn't pay for.

It was huge. The building itself looked like an old hotel- or perhaps, as the old man had said, a small palace. It was elegant, and except for the wooden cages outfront, one would never guess it was a whore house. Some of the cages held several girls, all of them pouting and posing for men, hoping to entice them into giving up a few of their coins. Jin scanned them, searching for a girl he prayed wasn't there. When he finally came to the last cages, the ones obviously intended for the picks of the litter, as they were lined with satin. and had several torches illuminating their occupants, he stopped, his heart falling. In the last cage, lit brightly by the torches surrounding it, she stood.

She looked enthereal, the torches, coupled with the makeup and fancy ornaments adorning her hair, clothes, and ears, changed her. She didn't look like a normal woman. She was by multitudes more beautiful, more astounding. She was turning slowly, glancing over her shoulder at the crowd of men gathering around her cage, whooting and hollaring. Her kimono was dropped suggestively over one shoulder, revealing creamy skin, and her eyes fixed on each face in the crowd, gauging their desire. Her hair was tied into a loose bun on top of her head, held in place by thin, elegantly desinged sticks, small charms dangling off the ends, swaying with her every move.

She was beautiful. So beautiful it made Jin sick. It made him sick to stand there eyeing her, while she spun like a peice of meat before the leering eyes of the crowd. It made him sick that he wanted to touch her so badly, afraid that she was some devilish illusion sent to twist the minds of men. This could not be Fuu. This couldn't be the adorable, naive girl he once knew. This woman... This thing... It just couldn't be-

"So I see you like our little Kiyo?" a wheezing voice said, and Jin looked over, dismayed.

"Kiyo?"

"Oh, yes, she is quite beautiful, isn't she? You must be from out of town, almost everyone knows our little blossom." The elderly lady by his side gave a wheezing laugh, "Only most can't afford her company. But you look like a good man, and I might be able to cut you a deal.."

Jin pulled out a pouch of money, counting its contents before giving her the total of how much he was willing to part with.

"Well, I suppose so. I like you. It isn't often enough Kiyo gets to spend time with men her own age, or ones so close to her in beauty." She wheezed a laugh, "Trouble is, only rich old merchants can afford this kind of quallity." Jin's stomach did flips as he imagined the grizzly scene that was painting itself in his mind. Fuu, his Fuu, with old men- doing who knows what- only he knew all too well. She accepted his money and grinned her toothless grin at him.

"With an extra ten or twenty or so, I could send up dinner for the two of you."

"Yes, that would be pleasant." he replied, handing over more of his hard-earned money. The woman clapped her hands together, overjoyed, and turned to Fuu.

"Kiyo, you have a customer!" Fuu turned her head to look at the elderly woman, then her eyes darted to meet..

"Fuck." Fuu gasped, a hand darting up to cover her rose-bud mouth. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. He had found her. He knew. She swallowed her pride, and stepped slowly out of the cage as Mother opened the door.

"Follow me, sir." Fuu said, bowing stiffly, not daring to look him in the eye. _'Dammitfuckshitcunt!' _Fuu's mind continued cussing as she led Jin up the carefully carved steps, feeling his eyes on her at all times during the climb. She slid the door to her room and entered it, bowing once more without making eye contact, and inviting him in. She took a seat on the floor across from him and looked at her hands, embaressed to move.

"Good evening, sir, I am Kiyo and I will be your-"

"Fuu." The name escaped his lips so easily, and caused ripples of pain to erupt through her body.

"My name is Kiyo-"

"Fuu," Jin said, seizing her by the shoulders, "Fuu, Fuu. It's me- It's Jin."

Fuu bit her bottom lip, her throat tightening around the words she forced, "I'm sorry, sir, you must have me confused for some other girl-"

"Look at me." he demanded, and she abided, raising her face to stare into his own, working hard to contain herself. He placed a hand on her face and rubbed off some of the makeup caking itself on her skin like a mask. He stared at his thumb, and then the naked patch on Fuu's face. "I know you." he whispered, his face inches from hers to inspect the thumbprint. "You can't hide behind this."

"I- I.." Fuu stammered, her tongue pivoting, searching for words she couldn't find. She broke down, unsure of what to do, and reverted to crying- something she hadn't done in years. She hadn't cried since she bacame Kiyo- except for one night when Mame had come back brutally beaten from one of the "bad" men they had discussed on her first night. However, using her substantial connection with Mother and the bodyguards of the house, that man was never allowed in their whorehouse again..

She cried. She cried because she hadn't heard her name in so long . She cried because she had nearly forgotten it. She cried because she wasn't who she had been, and seeing him just made it even more evident than ever. She cried because Mother wanted her to take up the flesh trade. She cried beacause Mame was too young to know she had been wronged. She cried because Fuu had wronged herself. She cried because she had loved him, although after three years in the brothel she didn't believe in love, only sex. She cried because she couldn't do anything else.

He held her. He held her against him as she shook in her hysterics. She wept into his robe until she had no tears left to cry, then she gathered herself up, and sat across from him again, most of her makeup washed off- now staining his robe with white-red-and-black.

"What did you come here for?" she asked quietly, averting her eyes once more.

"To find you."

"Why?"

"To get you out." he replied, thinking that it was all to obvious. He waited patiently for her to sigh happily and throw herself in his arms. To thank him, to shower him with that all too embarassing, but so badly needed affection she had always given him. He waited. He watched her. She made no move to leave.

"I can't." she said simply, throwing her head back.

"What?" Jin replied, his heart skipping a beat.

"I can't. Theres no place else for me to be."

"There is," Jin insisted, searching her eyes for what little Fuu might be inside them. "You could come with me-"

"And be a third wheel as you went off with that other woman?" Fuu shot, causing Jin to flinch inside.

"Fuu-"

"I'm sorry, Jin, but this is the only way I can take care of myself. I was starving in the streets before I came here."

"But can you really live this life? It isn't honorable."

"Few of us can afford to be as honorable as you." Fuu said, smiling grimly. "And even if I left now, I'd never have my _honor_ back. I've been here for nearly three years, Jin. Nearly three years." Each word was laced with venom, and Jin got the feeling that part of her blamed him for her present condition. Maybe he was to blame. He should have never watched her walk away-

"I'm sorry, Fuu."

"Fuu is dead." she replied, dully, the malice gone from her voice. "My name is Kiyo." Jin looked up at her sadly, and rose to his feet. His throat was caving in on itself.

"Fuu- I could take care of you. Shino could...she could do without me. Come withe me, Fuu. Lets leave together." he choked, "Let me make it up to you."

"I-" There was a small knock at the door, and Fuu walked over to slide the door open. A small girl, no more then fifteen years old knelt with two trays of food.

"Mame, thank you dearheart." Fuu cooed, taking the food. "Please, thank the cooks for me."

"I-I made it." Mame stammered, blushing furiously.

"Well, then thank you, Mame, it looks delicous." The smell wafted over to Jin as Fuu closed the door. It did smell delicous- and for a moment his thoughts were diverted elsewhere.

"Come, sir, lets eat together?" she said politley, falling back into her nightly routine. They knelt across from one another and ate in silience. Fuu urged him to try the sake, boasting it was the best in the town- and he did, hoping it would grease his throat so he might talk easier.

When the food was finished they had no reason to avoid one anothers eyes.

"I am doing well here, Jin. Kiyo is doing well. It may have killed me- but it has also made me. You don't understand.."

"Hn.." Jin said, looking away. "All I know is you've changed. You're no longer my Fuu." Fuu smilled sadly, and crawled across the floor to kneel in front of him.

"But tonight I am yours-" she said carefully,"If only for tonight." She placed a hand on his arm, and pushed him gently to the floor, climbing on top of him. Jin's stomach lurched, disgusted, yet aroused by the bold move Fuu was making. He should have expected it, it is her job.

_'best damn brothel girl..'_

_'best'_

_'Fuu...'_

She worked her tongue against his neck, gently purring and nipping here or there and Jin's eyes closed, feeling the warmth of the sake and her embrace envelope him. He sighed, feeling her now lush body brush against him-

"Shino-"

Suddenly the contact stopped, and Fuu was standing up, backing away. Jin sat, looking at her, confused.

"Fuu-"

"SHUT UP." she hollared, covering her ears. "Just leave me the fuck alone!" She clenched her eyes shut and stomped her feet. Finally-she was looking like Fuu again, but Jin wasn't sure he liked it.

"What did I-"

"Just leave Jin! Get out of my life and let me forget you. Let me forget Mugen. Let me forget Shino. Let me forget Fuu!" She cried vicously, still covering her ears.

Jin stood, stepping towards the door. "I know... I know you don't want to leave, but.." he paused, "I'm going to be in town for awhile, I'll be taking on a job," he lied, "if only for a few days before I leave to-"

"Ah," Fuu laughed bitterly, glaring at him. "Your tragic little love story. Well don't let _me_ get in your way. Go right ahead."

"Fuu-"

"Leave."

Jin heaved a sigh and left, his feet dragging as he made his way down the hall.

"Hey, you, young man." a voice wheezed and he turned to see the haggard old woman from before. "I'm going to be announcing my new apprentice soon.. and I think there's going to be some trouble.." She wheezed once more, then held out a sack of money, "You look strong, and able bodied.. How 'bout yeh take on a job protecting one of my girls.."

What a perfect way to keep an eye on Fuu..

"Who is it?"

"Oh I think you know her well enough.."

What a _perfect_ way to keep an eye on Fuu.

Fuu paced, she wanted to punch the thin screen walls that surronded her. She wanted to scream and cuss. She wanted to drag her nails across that painfully smooth skin of his. She should go find him. She should go give him a piece of her mind-

She slid open the door, when suddenly she was tackled-

"Mame-" the smaller girl ws sobbing into Fuu's kimono. "Mame, did another bad man.."

"No," Mame sobbed, "I heard everything- KIYO how can you think of running away? Mother's going to make you head of house and things will get better- please, Kiyo, don't be an idiot. Pleaassse Kiyo." She sobbed harder, closing her arms tighter around Fuu's waist. "Please, Kiyo.. Don't leave me."

"Don't worry." Fuu said, smiling affectionately, "I'm not going to leave you." Mame looked at her, confused. "I turned him down."

"You idiot," Mame oozed into her kimono, still crying. "You could have escaped." Fuu placed a hand on Mame's head.

"I'm never leaving you, little one."


	3. How Close Is Close Enough?

**Of Silk And Lace**

_cap'n coree_

**Chapter 3: How Close is Close Enough?**

To say Fuu was furious would be an understatement. When she found out the new arrangement, it looked as if she couldn't decide whether to rip her own hair out, or Jin's, so she satisfied herself by doing a little of each, completley tearing loose most of Jin's hair from his pony tail, and frazzling her own loose knot.

"MOTHER HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?" she fumed. Mother looked quite confused by the whole mess.

"Kiyo- do you not want to be my heir-"

"NO! ITS-ITS THIS MAN!" she howled. "HOW CAN YOU LET _HIM _BE _MY _BODYGUARD?"

"Has he done anything to you?" Mother asked calmly. Fuu pouted, unable to explain any prior events to Mother. Jin had to admit that he was much more use to Fuu now. She was dressed in a cotton robe, her hair tied back in a tight pony tail so she might apply her daily makeup without it hanging in the way. All the glamour was removed to reveal a loud, moody young woman. No ethereal goddess here.

"I just don't like him is all. He's creepy, he doesn't talk, doesn't smile-" Fuu rambled on, sitting infront of the mirror. She began to spread powder over her face, tossing dreadful looks Jin's way every now and then.

"Well, you don't have to like him." Mother said, "You don't even have to acknowlage his presence, but I am announcing my intentions soon- in three days exactly, and within those three days you have to go out and meet some wealthy patrons-"

"I've already met the wealthy patrons. I'd say I know them rather well, thank you."

"As a whore perhaps, but soon you're going to be head of the house and they have to respect and know you as such."

"Well, they're not going to like that."

"I don't want you fooling around or flirting with them anymore, you're above that now. However," Mother continued, ignoring Fuu's snide remarks, "you'll also be meeting some of the local yakuza. Important men whose friendships I've built over the years with certian favors. They're protection and investment in this house is absolutley nessicary. Those men, Kiyo, you are to do anything to gain their admiration."

Jin stood in the corner, trying to ignore all the lewd undertones of the conversation playing itself out before them. He thought it would be better if he avoided saying anything at all.Fuu knew how to handle Mother better than he, and vice versa. He should just let these women go at it. But the suggestions Mother was giving Fuu were causing Jin's stomach to do flip-flops. Fuu pal around with dirty gangsters?

"Now, you," Mother said, turning on Jin, "when Fuu sees those men, you're not to stop them from taking a grab or a feel here and there-" Jin fought the urge to drive his sword through his belly just thinking of watching men paw Fuu- "But the others, well, let them know there will be none of that, you understand?" Jin gave a stiff nod and Fuu scowled.

"Honestly, Mother, why not use one of the old boys?"

"Because they'll be too busy here, you know that." Fuu sighed, tossing her head from side to side as she examined the job she was doing on her face. It was like watching a catterpillar turn into a butterfly- observing Fuu put on her makeup.

"Well, fine, I suppose he'll do, as long as he doesn't bother me too much." Fuu consented, but Jin knew that it was far from over.

"Thats a good girl, Kiyo. Now, tonight you have two engagements. One is with your former client, Take. The other is with the second most powerful yakuza in town, Shinji, a rather hard man to deal with. But remember what I told you. Both of you." She bowed and walked out of the room, pausing briefly in the hall.

"Well-"

"Hmm?"

"Are you going to leave?"

"Hn?"

"I SAID GET OUT!" The door slid open suddenly as Jin ducked a sandal aimed for his head. He slid the door closed quickly, and sighed as another random flying object hit the door.

Mother walked away, content. Kiyo, decidedly, would make a fine Mother. Not only did she have heart- but she had the will and backbone it would take to run this place. Mother was assured in her choice. _'Its too bad..'_ Mother thought sadly, as she tottered off down the hall, _'that I won't be around to see it._'

Mother had taken to washing her own sheets so no one would see the blood...

---------

Fuu stepped out several hours later. Almost the whole day had passed, Jin was sitting outside the whorehouse only to be brought meals by the same girl from the night before. Her hate-filled, yet curious glances were not lost on Jin. When Fuu finally exited the tea house she was once again Kiyo. Calm, collected and beautiful. She walked right past Jin, pretending not to notice him, and immediatley he jumped to his feet to follow.

For sometime Jin shadowed Fuu as she walked up the road away from the whore house into the rich part of town. Jin thought she might ignore him forever, when suddenly she spun on her heel to face him. Jin, suprised by her sudden stop, nearly ran into her.

"So, you didn't come to find me then? It was all a lie."

"What are you talking about?"

"Mother hired you beforehand didn't she? Thats why you came. It wasn't to find me."

"Fuu, that isn't how it happened. Your Mother offered me the job after the room."

Fuu shot him one last dirty look before spinning back around and ignoring him once more. Jin didn't know how to deal with women, so he elected to let it be.

It seemed ages before they reached their destination. The road couldn't be short enough for Jin, who was forced to watch the retreating back of his formally endeared friend. Perhaps he should give up on her. She has changed so much, not only physically, but on the inside as well.

It sickened Jin to watch her hips as they swayed from side to side as she walked. Where did they come from? Surely, Fuu had not walked like this before. She didn't nag like before, now she lashed out viciously. She was like a caged animal. Jin pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to ignore the nagging fact that Fuu may no longer be Fuu.

The house was rather large, but not as lavish as some of the others in this area. Jin noted that this man was not the richest man and pondered for a moment why the Mother sent Fuu here first. Fuu knocked lightly and a hearty voice answered.

"Who is it?"

"It's Kiyo, Take!" Suddenly there was the pitter patter of feet and a young man slid open the door.

"Oh, Kiyo! Lovely Kiyo, I had no clue you made house calls!"

"Silly, I'm afraid that I'm not here on a house call. Mother sent me." At the mention of the Mother, the young man darkened.

"Oh, that old harpy. Well, has she finally considered my offer?"

"No, I'm afraid not, my dear Take. She has sent me to announce-"

"Wait, come in, we should be sitting and sipping tea, not shouting our buisness out in the street." Fuu nodded, and stepped into the house, and Jin grabbed the door before Take could close it on him. Jin did not like this boy. He seemed young and spoiled. He was handsome, or must have been to Fuu. He had very subtle, cheery features, and chin length black hair. His eyes were round and hazel, and seemed to change hues in different lights. Fuu liked him. It was obvious. He hadn't seen her smile like that-

Well, the point is Jin didn't like him. It had nothing to do with Fuu's affection towards him-

Take sat down at a small table after setting out an extra cup of tea. It seemed, like Fuu, he was going to ignore Jin as well.

"So," Take said, looking at Fuu over the rim of his glass as he sipped his tea, "tell me now why you came here, Kiyo."

"Mother has sent me to announce that I will now be her succesor." Fuu said.

"Oh, I'm very happy for you." he said, but his expression said otherwise.

"This means I will nol onger be taking on clients."

"Hmm."

"Not even you, Take." Take finally set his tea down, as if he could no longer avoid the truth now that she had stated it so clearly.

"I always knew this would happen." he sighed. "You know, I tried to buy you from Mother. Several times. I offered her unbelievable sums, you know. It would have taken me years to pay it off. But I wanted to save you. I knew that she intended to make you her heir."

"I'm very sorry."

"I intended to marry you." Fuu shifted slightly, before crawling over to Take. His lip quivered slightly as he looked down at her. "You're just too beautiful, Kiyo. I don't want to see you rot. God dammit, I won't let you!" He slammed his fist down on the table and Jin's hand automatically leapt to his sword.

"I'll be fine, Take. I'll be set for life." Fuu put a hand on his shoulder, "I can recommend one of my sisters perhaps?"

"NO!" Take shouted, his eyes welling, "No. It's you. Can't you see that I-" Fuu wrapped her arms around Take, pulling him into her, so his head rested on her shoulder, and he began to sob. Jin tried to control his urge to stick his sword through him right then and there. He knew Mother told him there was to be no contact between them, but this wasn't the contact she was referring to, surely.

"I have to leave you."

"I know." he whimpered, and for a moment Jin felt sorry for him. Fuu stood, and without looking at Jin or the whimpering mess on the ground, she left.

Jin knew why Mother sent Fuu here first. Take was obviously in love with her, and Fuu obviously felt something for him as well. He was a dangerous threat to Mothers plans, and she intended on killing it then and there. Jin stood up and followed Fuu out, giving her distance.

Her pace was slower now. It was getting dark out, but Jin could see her hips no longer swayed so... her back was no longer so stiff.

"I.." Fuu mumbled, "I wish Take could have bought me.." Jin stopped, and Fuu followed suit. She turned towards him. "I wish he could have freed me, and taught me how to love.. Life could have been different.." Jin could just make out the faint track of tears in her make up as she turned around again, and a monster rose in his chest. He desired nothing more then to run back to the house and kill the sobbing fool then and there. But no, Fuu was right to want that. He was a sweet young man who cared for her like Jin himself had never been able to.

_'I wish..' _Jin thought _'that I had never been such a fool.'_

_-----------------------------------------_

Yay! Sorry for such the delay. I finally passed my driving test and got the Champloo game. I have a blister on my thumb from playing too much. I'd like to thank my new beta Muggle405! Whee! i got a beta!

No more mistakes like me accidently putting Mugen's name when I mean Jin or my fav. from Hero For Hire:

Fuu had grown on Fuu, like an unwanted appendage, or a boil.

Ah durrrrr I's be dumb sometimes.


	4. A Bat With Butterflywings

-1

**Of Silk And Lace**

_Cap'n Coree_

**Chapter Four: A Bat With Butterfly Wings**

Cruel fates drive women to such lows as selling themselves. Hunger, despair, need. Jin meditated over just what could have happened to Fuu to turn her into the women she is today as she threw herself over the disgusting blob of flesh seated at the head of the table with so much gusto one could assume that she was as fond of him as she was of that Take fellow.

Jin was well acquainted with this type of man. Big time gangsters who took over entire towns using muscle. The stench of this man could choke a horse, and in the cramped basement beneath his gambling house it was hard to escape. Jin couldn't believe Fuu could get that close to him without vomiting.

"OHHH Kiyo. You get more and more beautiful every time I see you!" The ogre crooned, cradling Fuu like a doll in his arms.

"Shinji don't be such a liar! You never come to visit me anymore." Shinji's eye brows knitted together to form one large roll of hair.

"Well Kiyo, you know how I prefer the young girls?" The rest of the men at the table laughed, all well aware of Shinji's odd preference.

"Are you calling me old?" Fuu pouted, "Anymore insults and I'll think you don't like me at all Shinji!"

"Well, Little Kiyo, you seem all grown up to me, why, your almost a Mother!" Shinji said, then reached up to cup Fuu's breast in his hands, "But I have to say- you do have a better figure then most Mothers." Jin had to seize his hand before it drew his sword nearly automatically, causing several odd glances to stray his way.

"And just what's his problem eh, jealous?" Shinji said, bouncing Fuu's bosom in his hand.

"Oh him," Fuu laughed, holding her hand over her mouth, "He's the bodyguard Mother hired for me. He's supposedly very adept but a little.." She paused as if she were thinking of a good word to describe it.. "Slow…?" Shinji nodded and looked over at Jin with something between pity and disgust.

That one should regard him in such a way..

Fuu was watching Jin, something close to horror and shame fleeting across her face, breaking the mask if only for a moment. _'Please Jin,'_ her eyes plead, _'this is my life now. This is how I live.' _Honestly, this intimate look into Fuu's life was almost too much for Jin. He whished he had fled the night before, instead of choosing to linger.

There was nothing left for him here.

He had someone to find.

Someone who would let herself be rescued.

The small talk, and grotesque flirting went on for what seemed hours before Fuu finally got down to business.

"So, my darling Shinji, can we expect you and you're fellows to still protect us at our lovely home? And even visit us sometimes?"

"Well, there's nothing on earth that could keep my men off your doorstep short of death itself, but lately.."

"Yes?" She asked, suddenly removing herself from the enormous mans arms.

"There is such a shortage of men lately, my little Kiyo. It's awfully hard to spare them protecting some whorehouse.."

"Some whorehouse- SOME WHOREHOUSE! Who do you men turn to when your wives scorn you? Who would take you to bed? Honestly, if something were to happen to us-" Fuu lectured, poking a finger in one of the many rolls occupying Shinji's body.

"Well, perhaps some arrangements can be made if certain favors are done, there is a girl, a young one named Mame I believe?" Fuu swallowed hard and looked from Shinji to Jin, then to Shinji again. For a moment, Jin thought Fuu was going to tell him to kill the bastard, but instead she gave Shinji a long, meaningful look.

"A good Mother never involves her charges in this kind of business deal," Fuu said, which was an out right lie. What was a Mother's trade but the selling of flesh? She knew Shinji's tendencies, and she was not about to pass poor Mame to the devil himself. No, even though she knew it had happened before, Fuu couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I have a loft upstairs…"

Fuu rose gracefully, avoiding Jin's eyes. "Shall I escort you there?" Shinji heaved himself onto his beefy legs and waddled after Fuu, and as they ascended the stairs, Jin stood calmly and followed.

'_I should leave.'_ Jin thought, _'I should leave now, and let Fuu do what ..Fuu does. I have no place in her world.' _But Jin heard the door sliding shut up the stairs over the shouts and the clanging die at the tables, as if fate was taunting him, and he found his legs moving in the opposite direction of the exit.

He moved through the fog of smoke covering the room, and began to climb the stairs. His hand rested on the door as he tried to reason with himself. He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be..

_"I'm sorry, Jin, but this is the only way I can take care of myself."_

_"And even if I left now, I'd never have my honor back." _She was right. Now that he had seen… It had been in front of his face the whole time but he couldn't look it in the eye, and if he opened this door he'd have to confront it. There was no going back from this life. Not for a proud girl like Fuu. She had made up her mind.

But Jin just had to know. He slid the door open, and forced himself to look at what was before him-

Fuu's kimono was parted, and Shinji had her by the hair, pulling her head back to grant himself access to her neck. He was biting it viciously, and it appeared as if he were trying to swallow her whole. Fuu's face was a mixture of extreme pain, fear, and shock as she saw Jin standing in the doorway.

"Jin-" she cried out, and Shinji looked up from his meal, a swelling red mark left on Fuu's neck oozing what appeared to be blood. Jin's hand leapt to his sword, drawing it without his command, and before he knew what was happening he was charging, then standing over the dead body oozing from a wound in the belly, Jin's sword buried in it to the hilt.

"JIN!" Fuu shrieked, throwing herself upon him, her fists beating upon his chest as she cried. "You idiot. Do you know what you've done? You've messed everything up! You bastard." She was sobbing now, and Jin raised a hand to touch the wound on her throat, wiping away some of the blood blossoming there. He stared at in disbelief, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger to feel its texture.

"Fuu-" he whispered, but Fuu was pushing him away, screaming. "YOU CAN'T, JIN! You can't save me from what I am." She was crouching over Shinji's body, wailing. Jin heard the beat of feet on the stairs.

"GET OUT."

"Fuu.."

"JUST LEAVE!" She screamed, and Jin left. He crossed the room in a few quick strides, pausing only to retrieve his sword, and escaped out of the window, leaving Fuu weeping over her former assailants body.

As he made his way out of town, he didn't look back.

"Mother," Fuu sighed as she entered the home, her hands covered in Shinji's blood. "I-"

"I have already heard, Kiyo." Mother said, then motioned for her to sit down. Fuu sat across from her, not daring to look her in the eye.

"I would like to apologize, Mother."

"Oh, come off it, I know it isn't you who killed Shinji. It was me who hired him, not you. I should have listened when you objected. You lied rather well."

"Mother-"

"It's alright, Kiyo. I know there was something between you two from before, and I don't want to know. I just should have listened." Mother sighed, then coughed, "Anyhow, this doesn't ruin our chances. Shinji's successor bought the slow story, and he is very loyal to this house. Infact, I'd say that fellow did us a favor. Now all our new girls won't get ruined.. And look what he did to your neck." Mother tsk'd, touching the sore.

"Honestly, he was such a cruel, dirty man."

"Yes," Fuu agreed, looking off in the distance, "where did he go?"

"Shinji? Are you getting religious on me?" Mother said, weary. She lost her best girls this way.

"No, the bodyguard."

"He was seen leaving town a little while ago."

"I see, it is for the best." Fuu mumbled, "May I go to bed?"

"Why, of course, you do have a rather long day ahead of you I fear." Mother said.

"Goodnight, Mother."

"Goodnight, Kiyo." Fuu stood, and started to leave the table.

"Fuu." Mother said, causing her to freeze. "That is what he called you isn't it? Such a pretty name. I wish I could have known you, Fuu."

"Mother…' Fuu mumbled, turning away. "I will see you in the morning."

"See you in the morning." Mother replied weakly. When Fuu reached her room she slammed the door to block out the hacking sounds echoing from the floor below.

----------------

"Mo-Mo-MOTHER IS DEAD!" One of the younger girls screamed, clutching her face in her hands.

Fuu was woken by someone shaking her.

"Madame Kiyo." Someone called, Fuu opened her eyes to see one of the older girls face hovering over her own.

"What? What is it? An appointment already?"

"No, it's Mother- er- she died."

"Mother? Dead?"

"That makes you Mother right?" The girl realized, then she realized she had just awoken the new Mother with quite a rude shaking. "I am sorry to wake you, but I had too.."

"It's alright, take me to her." Fuu said and was led down the hall to the downstairs. Mother's fraile form as bent over the table Fuu had left her at. Her hand was still curled around the tea cup, and a puddle of blood was oozing onto the table.

"Cercy." Fuu called, summoning one of the older male bodyguards mostly used for household chores. "I want you to get a priest and tell my engagements for the next few days that I will have to cancel. The house is closing down for three days, to prepare for Mother's funeral."

Cercy noddd, and took off without question, and it finally sunk in that she was now in charge.

She was now in charge of the most successful whore house in Kyoto…

She was no in charge of peddling flesh.

What would Jin think of that? She touched her hand to the still tender sore on her neck and ordered one of the young girls to go fetch some makeup, not wanting the priest to see it when he came in.

In all honesty she wanted it covered up because every time she saw it, she saw Jin's face the moment he saw her with Shinji. The priest knew what she was. Everyone did. But Jin hadn't believed it..

Not until that moment..

And it ached.

------------------------------------

AN: wheee free time! Woot. I'll probably be updating often


	5. Oh What Marvelous Things

**Of Silk And Lace**

_Cap'n Coree_

**Chapter Five: Oh What Marvelous Things**

Mothers coffin was showered in roses. All colors and assortments of them hung from doorways, from windows. It was getting to the point where you couldn't cross a room without bumping into them or stepping on a few. The stench of roses was so strong the fumes followed you for several blocks after leaving the brothel. Even then they couldn't overshadow the stench of death. Fuu closed down the whore house for three days, and spent the time arranging Mothers funeral. It was to be one of the most expensive funerals the town had ever seen. It was the kind of funeral Fuu would have arranged for her own Mother, had she had the funds.

Fuu now sat outside. In the evening, Mothers funeral was to be held. Visitors were already gathering, finding seats before the coffin, and volunteers were coming to offer a hand in carrying the coffin, and then burying her. Fuu was resting her head in her hands, dozing off slightly. The last few days had been hectic. She had to make so many plans, handle the accounting, it was all stressful. She nearly missed being just a common whore. At least they got to sleep. Fuu hoped fervently that it would be easier when she didn't have to deduct the cost of so many expensive purchases. In the last three days she had bought not only the needs for Mothers funeral, but new kimonos, one for each girl personally, and a few for the house itself to be used alternatively. She was trying to win the girls over.

The vacation and the kimonos had just about done it. Even girls who had hated Fuu before now had a grudging respect for her. Especially since the bags under her eyes hug heavier then any of their own. Perhaps being Mother of the house wasn't as easy as they all thought it to be. Fuu was certainly less strict then Mother had been. Where several beatings would have been handed out within the last three days, none were given. Girls were caught stealing food and sake, and Fuu would just look at them sadly, sigh, pretending that she hadn't seen anything at all. Marvelously, this didn't lead to an increase in theft but a decrease. Many of the girls respected Fuu to much to steal, and portions had increased since Fuu took over.

In fact, many girls were starting to love her in a way they never loved the previous Mother, fair as she was.

Mame snuck out of the house, carrying a pipe with a sack of tobacco and plopped down next to Fuu, holding it out.

"Here Ki- Mother! I brought you this. I know how stressed you are."

"Ugh," Fuu looked at Mame warily, "Not you too. Please don't call me that, it makes me feel old."

"But that's your title now!" Mame protested.

"Come on," Fuu groaned, "It's me Fuu." Fuu gasped, covering her mouth, "I mean Kiyo." She felt embarrassed by the slip. Momentarily she thought of Jin, wondering where he might be at the time, and thought with bitterly, that he must have went to that woman. Let him go, let him live happily ever after, Fuu could manage by herself.

Perhaps the change from Fuu, to Kiyo, to Mother had been to much for Fuu. She certainly felt exhausted.

Mame stared at her for a moment, then began to chant. "Fuu…Fuu.." she rolled it around on her tongue, tasting it, "FuuFuuFuuFuu."

"Cut it out." Fuu demanded, glaring at her slightly.

"Fuu Fuu Fuu…"

"I said CUT IT OUT!" Fuu hollered, growing angrier with every syllable. Without thinking, her hand jumped up, striking Mame across the face. Mame recoiled, shocked at the outburst of rage, and touched a hand to the angry welt growing on her cheek.

"Yes.. Mother." she whimpered, her eyes began to water. Fuu felt her stomach churn with guilt and wrapped an arm around Mame's shoulder, heaving a sigh.

"I'm sorry, Mame."

"That's what he called you, isn't it?" Mame said, locking her dark eyes on Fuu's hazel. "Why can he say it and I can't?" Mame's voice was laced with jealousy and she shifted beneath Fuu's arm.

"He was an old friend," Fuu said sadly, "Someone I knew before all of-" Fuu waved a hand in the air to stress her point, "this.. He helped me find something important.. Something I had lost long ago." Fuu thought about her father for the first time since she saw him, and felt a stab of grief deep in her heart. Back then she had been so careless. Only planning ahead to the point when she would find her father, when she should have been settling down, making a life for herself.

Maybe then she wouldn't have been in this situation.

"Kiyo, did you love him?"

"Maybe, once upon a time.."

"Hm.." Mame rested her head against Fuu's shoulder and shuddered, "Why didn't you leave then? I would have."

"I wouldn't have blamed you either, but the past is the past, and I've found that I can never go back. No, I feel the only escape for me is death." Fuu lit the pipe and inhaled, filled with fear for Mame's sake. She opened her mouth, letting the smoke seep from her lips, and sighed.

"You should run Mame. I'll let you. I have half the mind to let everyone run, and burn this place to the ground, but I'm afraid Mother would haunt me forever."

Mame shook her head. "No- I have to stay here, and protect you, Kiyo."

"Protect me from what?" Fuu asked, her question hanging in the air like the veil of smoke. It went unawnsered, however, because at that moment a crowd of well-wishers began to file into the house for Mothers funeral.

------------------------

Jin heaved a sigh, staring at the doors infront of him. He was reluctant to knock, although he knew her time was up and she'd be given back into his care. He knew more then three years had passed, and he feared that Shino would be angry with his tardiness, but it wasn't doing any good stalling here..

Gathering his compouser he knocked on the temple door, a small shriveled woman opened the door, eyeing Jin suspiciously.

"I'm here for Shino."

"Shino- oh, yes," the old woman replied, "well, she left some four months ago sir. You can still find her though, she doesn't live far."

"Can you give me the address?" Jin asked. The old woman signaled for him to wait, and rushed off to retrieve paper. She came back, the address scrawled across a ripped sheet of rice paper, and handed it over to Jin.

"Tell her I said congragulations!" she called, and as Jin headed to the boat, he didn't have the heart to ask what for.

--

It was a tiny house. Not much, but he suspected Shino might not be able to afford much. Outside there was a woman tending the garden clumsily, her swollen stomach getting in the way of her movements. Her hair was tied back and hidden beneath a green patch of cloth. Jin approached her from behind, his heart tightening with fear.

"Does a woman named Shino live here?" he asked, and the woman turned. Her face was alittle worn, and her hands were no longer smooth and long as he remembered, but calloused, and covered with dirt. When their eyes meant she let out a small gasp, and went to rise, but fell back onto the ground, her belly getting in the way.

"Jin," she breathed, low, filled with shock, as if she were looking at a ghost.

"Shino?" he replied, "Why, you've seem to put on weight. What are you doing here?"

"Jin- I-"

"Shino," a voice called from within the house, "Is somebody here?"

"It's no one honey," she called back, looking distressed.

"Jin, I- I left the temple months ago, I thought you were dead."

"Hn," Jin replied, looking away, "what gave you that idea?"

"I felt it," she replied, then motioned to her chest, "I felt it here. It took me sometime to realize that it wasn't that at all, but perhaps.. the dying of an idea."

"Hmm."

"When you didn't come I almost started to believe that I made you up. That you were some figment of my imagination. After awhile, thats all you were.. When I left, I met someone-"

"Hn."

"He's a simple man-"

Jin shifted, staring at the bulge beneath her shirt.

"We fell in love Jin."

His eyes probed the alien object, trying as hard as they could to make it go away, to make this a bad dream. Out of all the possiable outcomes of his visit, he never imagined this to be one of them.

"I realized it could never work out between you and I.. You're just.. We'd always-"

Jin reached up and removed his glasses, cleaning them, hoping it might fix the problem.

"We'd always be on the run."

Jin replaced the glasses, and looked Shino in the eye, unable to look at the swell anymore. "I hope you live a good life." He turned back down the path he had followed, closing his ears to the sound of his name as she tried to call him back.

He knew if he looked again, nothing would have changed. He elected to spare himself the pain.

His feet drug him on, although he had no destination, deep down he knew where he was headed.

------------------

An: Thank you everyone who offered support/advice. I fixed it. The whole contol panel add remove thing worked great. Thanks AznGrrrl and Dee Kaui and everyone else.

Im going camping so I wont be able to update for alittle, monday earliest if I don't work.


	6. Falling Over Backwards For You

**Of Silk And Lace**

_cap'n coree_

**Chapter Six: Falling Over Backwards For You**

**--------------**

Fuu sat behind the cramped oak desk, staring out the window as the newest girl sweeped the entrance. Sweat caked her forehead, and she fanned herself, desperate to rid herself of the heat. Mame was acting off. Since Mother's funeral she hadn't been acting the same. Fuu was afraid their fight had done serious damage to their friendship. Every time she recalled the slap she dealt Mame, her hand stung with shame, but she couldn't bear to seek Mame out herself.

"Erika!" Fuu called, massaging her temple, "ERIKA!" The door slid open and an older woman stepped in. She was aged years ahead of her time, her youth stolen by labor. She had been at this very house for over twenty years, and rightfully should have been Mother's heir, but the truth was Mother never liked Erika much. She hated Fuu for stealing what she believed was meant for her, and showed her blatant disrespect at any chance given.

Fuu chose not to notice it, and more often then not went out of her way to be kind to her. She couldn't help flinching whenever she saw her, however, imagining herself, or poor Mame ending up that way in ten to fifteen years. Fuu had pulled her from the harder aspects of the jobs, giving her the simple task of cleaning, and serving food and the herbal contraceptives that every girl must take in the morning.

"Whaddya want?" she snarled, limping over to Fuu.

"I called you in because I have found an error in the numbers this month. You see, you're telling me in this report," Fuu motioned to the paper on the table, "that we need less herbs then last month, but this month we've added several new girls."

"Ah, but Madame, you have no need to take them anymore, and you've taken me off duty as well, so therefore we do need less."

"Ah, but we've added two girls, and anyhow, this past year you didn't need them. You can no longer have children, and you know it." Fuu replied, glaring at Erika over the top of the sheets. "And if I did the math right, which I did, that means someone has been going short."

"You must have made an error," Erika replied, "did you take in to account the extra herbs left over?"

"Erika, don't play your games with me." Fuu warned, "I may be new at this, but I know what I'm doing, and you can't fool me. You're up to something, and when I find out what it is-"

"Mother!" someone called from downstairs. Fuu stood up, instructing Erika to sit still, and dashed out of the room.

"MOTHER!" the shrill voice called again, filled with terror this time. Fuu quickened her pace, rounding the corner at the bottom of the stairs to see-

"YOU!" Fuu's voice boomed, as she regarded the man laying in a heap on her lobby floor. One of the younger girls looked from Mother to the man, at a loss for what she should do. "He is not to be let in!"

"I know Mother, he just showed up out of the blue, looking deranged, and well, half starved, and I tried to tell him to go away but he just kinda...fell...nearly ontop of me." Fuu huffed and stared at the mass of hair and dirt on the ground. He resembled Mugen far more then himself at the moment, except for the pair of glasses that were laying on the floor.

"Jin," she commanded, nudging him in the ribs with her foot. "JIN." She kicked him slightly, and he groaned, flipping over. He was pale. He had always been pale, granted, but it had been a healthy pale, if there were such a thing. Now he looked half dead.

She was tempted to call the guards and have them chuck him out on his now skinny bony ass, but a small voice was nagging in the back of her head.

_"You wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for him, and now you're just going to throw him out? You get more and more like the bastard Mugen every day, you know. When are you going to stop bathing, huh? And start picking your nose-"_

'SHUT UP!" Fuu hollared, causing the girl to jump. "Okay, fine, get the men 'round back and have them help you carry his lazy ass upstairs, and bring him some food." The girl ran outside as if the hem of her kimono was aflame.

When Fuu returned to her office, Erika was gone.

Fuu was too exhausted to even care.

-----------------------------------------------------

Fuu flung herself across the matress, growling in frustration as she walked through the events of the day in her mind. Erika was up to something, and although Fuu didn't know what, she knew it was directed at her. The numbers did not add up, and Fuu wouldn't be fooled. Sure, numbers weren't exactly her strong point, but she spent a long time on those books to make sure everything was exact.

Just what could she be up to?

And Jin, what exactly was he doing back here? It had been nearly three weeks since he left, and she was pretty positive then that she was never going to see him again. She was also positive she didn't want to see him again. It had taken several hours of 'negotiations' to convince the yakuza not to exact revenge.

Fuu gave a sigh and shifted uncomfortably before passing out, unable to process anymore of the increasing drama.

------

"What else do you think we need for the house, Takahiro?"

"I'm pretty sure we got everything."

Fuu was strolling through the market, searching for food to last the house the rest of the month. Like Mother advised before she died, Fuu always kept a guard with her. Not that she was worried she would be attacked, but Fuu knew she had an unlucky streak when it came to being kidnapped, and she didn't want to work her way up through yet another brothel.

However, the thugs that were hired didn't make for the best company. Takahiro was the least shifty, although he was so old he offered hardly any protection at all.

On their way home, however, he began to grow tense.

"What are you looking at?" Fuu demanded the third time Takahiro looked over his shoulder.

"I don't want to scare you, " he whispered, "but I think we're being followed." Fuu went to look over her shoulder and Takahiro stopped her immediatley.

"Don't let them know we know!" he snapped.

"Well you've been looking over your shoulder every five steps, I'm sure if I did it just once.."

Takahiro gave her a scolding look then shook his head.

"Honestly-"

"No, we have to lose them, and they can't know we're on to them."

"What are we going to do?"

"Come on," Takahiro said, gripping Fuu's arm a little too tightly. His steps quickened, and Fuu could feel the sweat from his hand seeping through her kimono.

"Takahiro, you're scaring me," she squealed, and he tightened his grasp, pulling her into an alley. "Takahiro- is this really smart? Theres no way out! We'll be trapped in here if they fin-" Suddenly a hand clamped over her mouth, and Fuu, startled, dropped the basket of food in her hand.

"We're not trapped." He whispered, "But you are." Instinct took over as Takahiro reached with his free hand for his sword hilt, and Fuu bit. Hard.

Takahiro released her mouth, cursing, and aimed a well placed kick to her stomach. Fuu doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach as she slid down the alley wall.

"TAKAHIRO," she commanded, "What's gotten into you, this is no way to get a raise!" She inched her hand closer to her thighs, leaving one rested on her stomach. She slipped her hand beneath her kimono, clutching the tanto strapped to her thigh.

Takahiro let out a rough laugh and shook his head, "Are you really that dumb? I'm doing a favour for someone."

"Are you here to avenge the yakuza?" Fuu said, shocked. Instantly she feared for Jin, Mame, and the rest of the girls at the house. Jin was in no condition to fight, and if Takahiro had been bought out who knew who else was..

Takahiro laughed again, "Not even close." He unsheathed his sword, raising it above his head, leaving the perfect opening for-

There was a flash of silver, and a sickly squish of skin and organs being punctured as Fuu buried the tanto deep within Takahiro's exposed stomach and twisted upward.

Takahiro coughed, splaying her with blood, before falling forward, collapsing ontop of her, grazing her shoulder with his sword. Fuu struggled out from under the stinking corpse, the smell of blood and piss filling the alley. She picked up the discarded basket, taking care to rub the blood off an apple unlucky enough to have rolled from the basket, before continuing home.

She walked right past the girl at the door, who was too shocked at her appearance to ask where Takahiro was, and headed for the bath.

Like Mother always advised before she died, always keep a weapon on you, no matter who you're with.

---------------------------------

AN: Sorry I haven't updated lately. Been crazy busy.


	7. I Want To Fool You All

**Of Silk And Lace**

_Chapter Seven: I Want To Fool You All_

"I heard you were almost murdered." Fuu gave Jin a prodding, agrivated glare as she sat in the chair next to his futon.

"What are you, some sort of psychic?" Fuu demanded, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"How long ago was it, three days? Do you know why?" Jin asked, concerned for Fuu, who currently looked more like a wraith then the girl he had left at the crossroads.

"First, tell me how you know." Fuu demanded.

"That girl Kona you have taking care of me, she is somewhat of a gossip." Jin stated dryly. "She said you killed the man by ripping his head of with you bare hands, and then dragged it all the way home so everyone would know-"

"Thats crazy," Fuu said, rolling her eyes.

"I assumed as much, who saved you?"

"I don't need saving, " Fuu said, crossing her arms across her chest. "I simply stabbed him in the chest."

"Kona will be dissapointed her information is false."

"Hn, you seem to be getting better. Thats good, all the sooner you can leave." Fuu replied, trying to avoid this conversation at all costs.

"So who did it?"

"A bodyguard of ours, I'm not sure why. Perhaps he wanted more money, but it could always be a hit sent from the yakuza band, you know, the one whose boss you killed?"

Jin tensed, "I didn't mean to cause you trouble."

"So you run one of our most important clients through with you sword? Great for buisness Jin, honestly," Fuu nagged, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I apologize, but he was hurting you."

"So? What buisness is it of yours?"

"I-"

"Jin, you're just a distraction. I recommend you leave soon, I have alot on my mind," Fuu said, getting up to leave, seeing Erika in the hall.

"I can't leave."

"Yes you can, it's easy, just get up on those two, strong, freeloading legs of yours and walk out."

"I can't. Not when I know your life may be in danger due to me."

"I can take care of myself," Fuu growled, Erika was already gone.

"Fuu-"

"She's waiting, you know." She replied, turning away from him. Jin felt his chest clench at the blatant refrence, his head filling with unbidden images of swollen bellies, a woman gardening, the smell of squid roasting-

"No," he looked up at Fuu who was watching him over her shoulder, "she stopped waiting a long time ago."

"Well, those are the breaks aren't they," she replied, waving her hand in the air. Had the Fuu he known always been so cruel as this? Sure, she had a quick tounge every now and then, but this..

"Fuu," he called desperatley as she moved towards the door, "I have nowhere else to go."

"Then sweep the floors and wash the dishes with that loud mouth Kona, as long as you're here you may as well do something for room and board." Fuu snickered darkly, "Or I could always dress you up as a woman and-"

"Cleaning shall be fine." Jin stated firmly, "As long as I'll be close enough to watch you."

"Watch away," she said, leaving the room before calling "Kona will brief you at dawn tomorrow, I suggest you get to sleep early."

"Erika" Fuu shouted, walking down the halls, searching each room for the aging woman. "ERIKA, where is she?" The girls inside shook their heads, and Fuu moved on to the next room.

"Erika-" the sound of dry heaving reached Fuu's ears as she stuck her head in the next room. Mame had her head dipped into a bucket, her hair covering her face.

"Mame!" Fuu shrieked, running to her side. She lifted the girl's head out of the bucket to face her, brushing the hair out of her face. She was slick with sweat, and bits of mucus clung to her chin. Mame looked into Fuu's face and began to sob immediatley.

"I'm sick Kiyo." she said weakly between loud shaking sniffles, snot dripping from her nose.

"Sick?" Mame nodded and Fuu looked into the bucket to see a large amount of vomit caking it's sides and bottom. "For how long?"

Mame sobbed louder, "A week, maybe two."

"Have you been taking your-"

"Erika brings it to me every morning, I don't think-" The gears in Fuu's head began to turn, and something clicked. She jerked away from Mame, and she seized the bucket again, unleashing another wave of neusea into it, her body shaking.

"ERIKA!" Fuu screamed at the top of her lungs, lunging out the door, dashing through hall after hall. Fuu entered every room she could, tearing the place apart as she searched for any hiding spots the old woman could hide. Girls shrieked, rushing for the exit, when Fuu seized one of them by the collar.

"Where is Erika," she demanded, nearly lifting the girl off the ground.

"I don't know," she stammered, trying to pull herself free.

"Tell me where she is!"

"I saw her leave a little while ago," a girl said, poking her head in the room. Fuu seethed, releasing the girl in her arms, nearly knocking over the informant as she left the room.

Fuu stood outside, her head bobbed from the left, to the right, then back again. There was no way she could tell where the elderly woman had gone. She stomped her feet in frustration, cursing her with every dirty word she had ever learned from Mugen. Minutes passed. They fed themselves into an hour, and Fuu, worried about Mame, returned inside to her room.

There was no way of telling just how long she sat with her on the wooden floor, cradling her while she shook, from fear or sickeness, Fuu could not tell. All she could do was pet her, and try to reassure her that everything would be alright.

A girl ran up the stairs, panting as she slid open the door.

"She's here," she called breathlessly, staring at Fuu. No one had ever seen the new Mother angry. No one had ever recieved a beating from her. Some believed she wasn't capable of it. It just wasn't in her nature, but as Fuu rose, fists clenched, the girl at the door feared for Erika's life.

"What did she do?" she asked, staring at awe in Fuu as she walked past her, then Mame who laid on the floor, convulsing.

Fuu meant Erika at the door. Erika smilled sweetly, kicking off her sandals to lay in a heap by the door.

"Oh, Kiyo, I didn't think you'd be up this early."

"You're not so lucky." Fuu muttered between clenched teeth. Erika looked Fuu in the eyes, noticing just then the hate that Fuu was regarding her with.

"What's-" There was a resounding crack as Fuu drove her fist into the older womans withered face, knocking her to the ground. "Y-you're crazy!" Erika exclaimed, clutching the offended cheek. Fuu bent over, heaving the older woman to her feet as girls gathered around to watch. Fuu lifted her hand in the air, holding her shoulder with the other, but Erika sunk what was left of her rotting teeth into Fuu's arm. Fuu yelped in pain, and tried to free her arm, but Erika was now holding it in place. Fuu aimed a well-placed kick to her stomach, and Erika fell backwards, bringing Fuu with her.

Rolling on top, Erika fumbled with Fuu's flailing limbs as she tried to grasp hold of another to sink her teeth in. Fuu seized hold of the sandals Erika had previously kicked off and brought it crashing against the older woman's head, knocking her off. Fuu held her down to against the floor and began flailing with the sandal, hitting her anywhere possiable. Erika began to scream, trying to block the heavy sandal from hitting her when suddenly a pair of strong hands seized Fuu around the waist and pulled her away.

Fuu began to struggle to get free, lusting after Erika's blood. She reached back and clawed whatever part she could reach of the person restraining her.

"Let me go, LET ME GO!"

"Fuu-"

"Let me go, god dammit, I'm going to kill her, I have to kill her!"

"Do you hear that?" Erika cried pitifully, trying to nurse her wounds. Blood dribbled out of her mouth, staining the carpets.

"How dare you," Fuu seized, "How dare you do such a thing to Mame!" She was clawing at the air, trying with all her might to reach her.

"Fuu," the voice behind her urged, and she spun around to assail it with her fists, "Fuu, calm down." Fuu felt her strenght ebb, and she fell against the solid body clutching her. She began to sob, twisting fabric in her fists.

"How dare she-" she mumbled into the cloth, her arm bleeding from where Erika bit her.

"She means to kill me because she knows I should be Mother," Erika cried, enraged. "I've done her no wrong, and she beats me."

"Done me no wrong, done me no wrong," Fuu shouted into the cloth, muffling her voice, she shifted, "Then what of Mame? Tell them what you've done to her! How dare you bring her into this, you selfish old hag!"

A few of the girls looked from Erika to Fuu, unsure who to believe.

"I didn't do anything!"

"LIAR," Fuu screeched, turning to point an accusing finger at Erika. "You replaced her contaceptive! You made her get pregnant!"

Several of the girls gasped. Getting pregnant could ruin girls in their line of work, and in some cases, kill them. Years of abuse to the body did not bode well for child bearing, and women never truly got their shape back after having a child. What customer would want to sleep with a Mother anyhow? Perhaps in a lower class whore house, but in this one such things were unheard of.

"I didn't." Erika insisted.

"I have the proof upstairs! In the false numbers. Mame is upstairs vomiting as we speak. You, you," Fuu felt herself growing angry again, and felt a hand wrap itself tighter around her waist. She was still exhausted, but she knew she had it in her to carve the woman on the floor a new face out of flesh and blood if she wanted. She heaved a sigh, knowing it wouldn't help Mame at all.

"You will go upstairs to you room, and will not be fed, and only leave it tonight for work. It will be this way until I decide what to do with you." Fuu stated, and motioned for her to be taken upstairs. Two girls rushed over to her, heaving her to her feet roughly, and lead her upstairs. The rest began to disperse.

Fuu collapsed against the body behind her, and tilted her head up.

"Jin, " she sighed, "I should have known it was you who got in the way. Why couldn't you just let me kill her?" She laughed bitterly. "Well, as long as your out of bed, you could atleast do something for me.."

"Hn?"

"Mame needs to go to a doctor." Fuu sighed, and looked at her bleeding arm. "I suppose I should as well. Would you mind coming with us? After all, I don't want Mame in danger, and I'm much to exhausted to fight off any attackers today."

"Hm," Jin replied, nodding. Fuu lead Jin upstairs to help her fetch Mame, several awed, shocked, and approving looks following her.

"It's about time she showed Erika whose boss," one girl whispered to another, "If I were Mother, I'd of done it alot earlier."

"Always calling her Kiyo."

"Never cleaning after herself."

"Avoiding work."

"Getting Mame PREGNANT," one gasped in awe, as if she just realized how bad it was, "hey, you don't think she did it to anyone else do you?" Suddenly all the girls were afraid they had also been included in Erika's plot for revenge, and began to fret, throwing her room angry glances every time they passed.

-------------------

The doctor quizzed Mame about her illness. Asked her several questions about when she passed blood last. Pressed her stomach, prodded it, and looked grimly at Fuu and Jin.

"I'm afraid that she is indeed pregnant."

"There's nothing you can do? No medicine?" Fuu asked, clutching Jin's shirt. He shook his head, and Fuu nearly fainted. Mame bit her upper lip, her face quivering, as if any moment she would break down and cry again. The doctor took Fuu's arm and lead her away from the others.

"She's an awfully little thing, I'm afraid for the child, and for her," he whispered, "I don't want to frighten her, stress will only make it worse, but I want you to make sure that she's well fed, and if there are any complications..well you know where to find me." He looked at her arm, then continued, loud enough for Jin and Mame to hear, "Well, you're going to need to keep it clean and wrapped, that's quite a nasty bite." He looked over his shoulder at Mame and Jin. "I'd hate to see what she did to the other gal." Jin tried to manage a smile, haunting images of Fuu viciously maiming an old woman with a sandal flashing before his eyes. Mame just squeaked, biting her upper lip harder.

The doctor took Fuu's arm and washed it under cold water, then wrapped it with a clean roll of white cloth.

"Remeber what I said." He told Fuu, looking at Mame as they left. Fuu nodded, and turned to catch up, taking Mame's arm in her own.

She would. And she'd make sure Erika paid for what she did.

--------------


	8. A Spider in The Nest

**Of Silk And Lace**

_cap'n coree_

**Chapter Eight: A Spider In The Nest**

Months ticked by like seconds for Fuu as she watched helplessly as Mame grew rounder and rounder. She was removed from all duty and spent her days lulling about the house growing aquainted with the luxury of boredom.

"Honestly, Kiyo, I've always worked. I always will work, this is just maddening."

"Shh," Fuu cooed, smoothing her hair. Fuu spent most of her free time brushing Mame's hair to keep her company. She never really needed it, because she had boundless time to keep herself tidy, but it was a comfort for Fuu. Fuu usually took her breakfast with Mame and Jin, before Jin went off to do his daily chores. Fuu had no energy to spare scorning Jin, when all her rage was directed at Erika.

Fuu would sit idly thinking of punishments for Erika to go through. She did the brunt of the house hold chores, took on all the seedy clients, and got the least amount of food.

Winter was setting in, Fuu could see it. Clouds hung in the air, ready to beat down upon the earth with intense fury, and Mame was ready to burst forth as well.

At any moment.

"Has it really been nearly 9 months?" Fuu asked, staring at her glass of tea.

Mame ran a hand over her stomache and nodded. There had been two more attempts on Fuu's life, each time Jin had been there.

_"Just like old times." Jin sighed, wiping the blood of his sword._

_Fuu glared, her hand around the hilt of her tanto, which was in turn run through the stomache of the man Jin just decapitated. "Not quite," she replied, but let him add it to the tally of times he saved her anyhow. _

_'I'm not a helpless little girl anymore.' She held her tounge._

"It's going to be a winter baby. Winter babies are quite." Fuu said, though she had no experince. It was just something she liked to think. Winter babies were quite and calm.Summer babies were wild and free. Spring babies were bouncy and happy, and Fall babies were wise. It was a theory she had when she was younger, and still dreamed of having a familly of her own. She wanted to have a baby for each season. As she grew older she tried to apply her theory to those she knew. "I bet you were a winter baby, Jin."

Jin simply "Hn'd" and went on eating.

Fuu pouted, "No fun."

Mugen was most likely a summer baby.

"I hope," Mame said, "It's a boy, so it doesn't have to.."

She didn't have to continue, Fuu knew what she was going to say.

"I'll make sure, no matter what sex it is, that it's taken care of." She took Mame's hand. _Just like it's mother._

Mame often joked with Fuu that she was like the husband she never had. Fuu did everything for Mame herself, cooked, cleaned her room. She wanted to make sure it was all perfect, that there was no foul play. Erika didn't have time to conspire anymore, but Fuu still didn't care. She wanted to take care of Mame.

----

Erika paced the alley. She had to be back soon, or that wretch would know something was up.

"Yo."

"You're late."

"You could have been more specific with where the fuck you wanted to meet me."

"You were drinking."

"Psssh."

"Look, the bitch is going to be out soon, to get a doctor for that little whore. She doesn't know, but I do, because I'm knowlagable with these things. Next week, the baby is going to be born. I want you to watch the whorehouse, but stay low. I can't have her expecting anything."

"Staying in town for a whole week? That's awfull expense, lady."

"I have the money." Erika hissed, handing him a pouch.

"Alright, but if I happen to need more.."

"That's all your getting."

"Pshh.. Fine but if I have to skip town coz' I can't pay the hotel bill, ya gotta do the job yourself."

----------

AN: I am sorry I havent been able to write. Im working 39 hour weeks at wendys.


	9. It Just Feels Better To Give In

**Of Silk And Lace**

_cap'n coree_

**Chapter Nine: Sometimes It Just Feels Better To Give In**

_(n-n-not for youngins---)_

Fuu sat behind her desk trying to make sense of the patterns in the wood. Seconds blurred into minutes, which fed into hours. It was late, and she knew she should get to bed. Even the customers were gone now, and soon dawn would come and pour in through the windows and make it impossiable for her to drift to sleep. She was thinking about Mame, or more specifically Mame's baby. Mame had made a joke earlier that day that the baby was going to be as much Fuu's as hers while eating a pickle and samon sandwhich Fuu had sent Jin to the market to buy.

Fuu was just a tiny bit jealous. She wouldn't come to terms with it, but that was the truth. She rubbed her own belly, knowing she should be thankful that it wasn't swollen like Mame's, but instead she simply felt empty. She wanted that life. A life with husbands and burping babies. Sure, Mame didn't have a husband, but she had some sort of familly coming. Ever since she was a child she was determined to raise her own familly, the familly she should have had when she was young.

That, sadly, was no longer an option for Fuu, and not only due to her proffesion. Mother had been pleased when she was told about Fuu's affliction, because Fuu offered her a perfect ruse. One reason Mother loved Fuu over all her other charges was due to the fact that Fuu kept Mothers shameful secret, an affair, so when Mother started ordering more ingrediants for the contraceptives then needed, there was no suspicion due to the new girls arrival.

Fuu felt her internal clock ticking away, and she was helpless against it. She tried to stifle it by showering Mame with endless affection, but now that just caused her more frustration then ever while she watched her swell up like a balloon. She needed something, anything, to take her mind off of it. Thus she found herself standing outside Jin's room, akwardly searching for any feeble excuse for her to be there.

She slid open the door, staring at the prone form laying on the simple matress that served as his bed. She shuffled her way to the bed and knelt by it, taking a few moments to stare at the messy strands of hair that were usually so well kept. She reached out tentively to brush it off his forehead, daydreaming for a moment of doing that for her own children as they slumbered. Jin's eyes shot open and he seized her wrist, causing Fuu to let out a yelp of suprise.

"Fuu," he sighed, relieved.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, shiffting slightly, trying to think up an excuse for her presence.

"Hn." He sat up, his eyes running over her in the most unnerving manner. Her voice was caught in her throat, she was ready to run, but before she could Jin was gathering her in his arms and pulling her onto the matress with him. He arranged her so she was laying against her, her head resting in the crook of his neck. His hand was gently massaging the back of her neck, running into her hair then back again.

They laid like that for several akward moments before Fuu gathered the courage to speak.

"Jin, did you ever want a familly? Like with Shino?"

Jin clenched his eyes closed and "Hn"'d, trying to fight off the unbidden images of pregnant Shino.

"Shino was pregnant when I came for her."

Fuu wiggled further into him, burying her face into the soft cloth covering his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said, "Do you ever wish it was yours?" Jin had spent several nights thinking about Shino, and what could have been, but he wasn't sure he should admit this to Fuu, given her emotional tendencies and obvious jealousy over the other woman.

Finally, he decided it was best to tell the truth and nodded slightly, just enough for Fuu to feel.

"I've always wanted a familly," Fuu whispered, "ever since my father left it's been sort of an obsession of mine. I was almost as obsessed with it as I was finding my father. I guess it's pretty ironic that the journey to find him is the reason-" Fuu's voice hitched and she twisted the sheet in her tiny fist, growling softly in frustration. Jin, who was never schooled in the way of women and their emotions, one of the few things he wasn't adept in, didn't know how to take this. Being poliet and distant never seemed to work with Fuu, and the only thing he knew how to do with women was...

But Fuu was already beating him to that, he found, as the hand that had been gripping the sheet now slipped it's way under it and was clutching something else, rubbing furiously as if it were the solution to the problem at hand. Jin nearly cried out in suprise at the sudden, forecful attention, still feeling akward and utterly confused, but soon his body took over and he felt himself grow beneath the hard, long strokes. Fuu let out a whimper, and Jin wasn't sure if it was out of longing, or despair, but she kept rubbing him through his now constricting clothes.

Jin let out his own groan of frustration, but Fuu understood his completely and with a practiced hand unlaced the string keeping his pants on and loosened them enough for her hand to fit, and squeezed him gently. The contact was a shock, it had been a long time since Jin had laid with a women. Many of the whores within the house had come onto him on several occasions, but he just didn't find them stimulating. Not when Fuu, who was suddenly one of the most desirable women he had ever seen, was dangling infront of him, just outside of his reach. Yet here she was, and Jin longed for more. Honor, duty, code, it was all tossed away the moment he had seen her kneeling by his bed, her form illuminated by the thin rays of moonlight slipping into his room like a thief in the night, stealing what dignity he had.

He seized her arm, guiding it's movement, grinding his teeth over his bottom lip in need. His breath was labored now, coming out in soft moans and grunts as he came to the conclusion that Fuu's kimono should be on his floor by now and he should be tasting her, every inch of her. He tried to communicate this desire to her, but he couldn't find his voice, and he knew he was on the verge of release.

Thus he came in Fuu's hand, the primal ooze of his loins staining the still baby-fat fingers and dripping onto his once stainless bed sheets. He gave a slight whimper and his body went limp, his arm curling its way around Fuu's waist once more before he drifted off into a void of nothing but night and the soft smell of sunflowers.

Fuu frowned slightly before using her clean hand to wipe some hair off his sweat caked forehead before planting a light kiss there, and slipping out to her own room.

It wasn't the familly she longed for. It wasn't like burping babies, or cooking for husbands. It wasn't even love, but it was something.

And Fuu slipped off to her own void of nothing, free of guilt, and feeling just a tad less empty then she had before, only minutes before the sun showed is bright face through her window. Without worry, she slept far past noon.

AN: Again, sorry for the lack of updates. School, work. Meh. Worked till 11 last night, so exhausted I skipped school. Then I threw up so there should be no school tomarrow anyhow, so perhaps I'll be able to update quicker once more.

Is anyone else outraged that adult swim canceled Champloo? Ehhh it's so hard to get inspired without seeing it once a week. 


	10. Dreams Are For Those Who Sleep

**Of Silk And Lace**

cap'n coree

**Chapter Ten: Dreams Are For Those Who Sleep**

A.N. Dear 'Nasty'; Actually, no, I don't think my mom would be too dissapointed in me at all, she's quite open and encourages me to act out my creativity. You, sir or madame, have horriable grammer and puncuation. I bet your mom is dissapointed. Besides, what are you doing reading an M rated fanfiction if you don't expect a little smut? Anyhow, I said not for youngins.

To the other reviewers: Thank you, I heart you.

**--**

She came every night afterwards. Always in the middle of the night, always clothed. Never once were her clothes removed, never an inch of skin exposed, and Jin was too afraid to ask for anything more then her gentle hands working him over. Even a kiss seemed out of the question. He was afraid it'd be dishonorable. He was afraid it would scare her away. He was afraid she might not feel the same way as he did.

He was afraid he might need her to.

During the night, after she had pet him till he was exhausted and nearly dozed off, she'd slip out. He was too afraid to ask her to stay. He wanted more, but couldn't find it in him to ask. He had taken too much from her already.

She avoided him during the days, which was unsettling. He wanted to talk to her about what they were, what it meant, but everytime he did see her she was with Mame. During her nocturnal visits he was too afraid to bring it up.

This was the current problem Jin ran over through his head as he swept the second floor. He had a good view of the court yard out back, where he occasionally glanced to watch Fuu and Mame as they took lunch with one another. Fuu would ocassionally wipe Mame's mouth for her, or lightly touch her on the shoulder. Once she had her ear pressed against Mame's stomach. Such touching seemed forbidden to Jin, and as he watched he felt himself grow jealous of the young girl.

He knew it was shameful, to feel such hostile things for someone in her position, but during the day Mame commanded all of Fuu's attention, and once more, Fuu showered her with affection. Jin only had a few spare minutes during the cover of darkness, where it seemed more like Fuu was trying to exorcise something out of her system, rather than share a romantic tryst with someone she cared for.

He gripped the broom in his hand and scowled as he brushed away a clutter of dust clinging to the corner of the hall. What did he have to do to get that sort of attention? Get pregnant himself? He sighed, resolved to take the hand fate had delt him, maybe in time things would change.

After all, the baby was due soon.

-------------------------------------------

"Fuu." Jin whispered into the dark room, sliding open the door. She hadn't shown up that night, and Jin was anxious. Had he already lost his chance anyhow?

He shuffled his way over to her mat on the floor, kneeling slightly to watch her as she slept. Perhaps she was sick? Overworked? She couldn't have tossed him away so fast. He laid a hand on her shoulder and she stirred slightly.

"Fuu?" There was no waking her up from what Jin could tell. Suddenly it didn't seem enough to just be some sort of tool at her disposal. He wanted to lay in bed next to someone, to feel someones warmth. It was something he hadn't longed for since Shino, and had never longed for before then. With the girls in the brothel he occasionally visited it was all about getting the lust out of his system that occasionally plauged him on lonelier nights, but now he found himself wanting tender affection, and some sort of romance. That he longed for such things from Fuu frightened him at first. After all she had been like a little sister to him, a helpless little sister. To think he could have had her all that time when she was naive and willing to give it, and here he was wanting it now, when she was so reluctant to do so. The irony was not lost on him.

She looked so happy in her sleep, like she use to all the time. Jin swallowed all fear and honor he had left and slipped beneath the matress with her, caring little about the repercussions that would follow.

The warmth of her body consumed him, and lulled him into sleep.

--------------------


	11. Touching Nothings all I ever do

**Of Silk And Lace**

_cap'n coree_

**Chapter 11: Touching Nothings All I Do**

Jin was suprised that when he woke up Fuu was already awake, and not throwing a fit. Infact, she wasn't doing anything but laying in bed staring past him with a content look on her face.

"Fuu," Jin sighed in relief. "You're in a good mood?"

"Yes," she replied, streching slightly the fabric of her nightgown brushing against Jin "I just have a feeling.. the baby will be born today." Jin frowned slightly, disappointed that the unborn child had once again taken the limelight he tried so hard to absorb, but his sullen state didn't last long, as Fuu snuggled into him, beaming and yawned, wrapping one arm around his neck while squeezing the other beneath it.

"Wouldn't that be great?" Jin nodded slightly, too content to do anything else, and drifted back to sleep. Fuu sighed, her eyes closed, visions of burping babies filling her mind.

-------------

"I've got to go out now," Fuu called over her shoulder to Mame as she sat on the steps. Jin swept on, trying not to envy the girl and her swollen stomach.

"Wait Fuu," Mame protested, "I have something to ask you."

"Yes," Fuu turned, "anything!"

"This involves you too, Jin, " she said, beckoning him over shyly.

"Hn?"

"If anything happens-"

"What do you mea-" Mame motioned for Fuu to be quiet.

"If anything happens to me, when the baby's born," Fuu went to protest again but Mame gave her a stern glare, "I'd like to ask you to take care of the child for me.."

"Mame," Fuu said softly, taking a seat next to her. "Nothings going to happen."

"It's just," the younger girl whimpered, looking up at Fuu, "I- I'm afraid-"

She began to cry, burying her head into Fuu's shoulder. "I don't want the baby to end up with the same life I had. I don't want it to-"

"It's okay," Fuu said firmly, placing a hand on Mame's shoulder, "I won't let it happen."

-----

It took a long time for Fuu to get Mame to settle down, and Jin to finally push the guiltly voice nagging him about how distant he had been to Mame while she was pregnant.

Fuu eventually left, determined to get done whatever chores she had before it got dark. She was determine the baby would be born that evening. A heavy snow was falling, and Jin was alittle worried about letting Fuu go out on her own. He chastised himself, however, repeating several times in his head that she was a grown women now, before she fled out the door.

----------

"It's been too long," Mame fretted, holding her stomach up as if it were about to burst.

"She'll be back." Jin replied, although he was getting anxious himself.

"No- not in time-" Mame whispered faintly before her face twisted and she let out a long wail. Something wet and warm washed over Jin's feet.

"My-my- my water just-" Mame panted before collapsing to the ground, clutching her stomach.

------

Fuu did a small turn, shifting the snow around her feet, and laughed happilly. She was clutching the precious parcel in her arms.The reason she had trudged all the way out during a snow storm. All in all, it seemed worth it, although there were a few last minute adjusments that had eaten up a whole hour. It was already dark, but Fuu didn't mind. The chill was elevating her spirits, and she found herself leaping and hopping like a child. Like she hadn't done in ages.

Yet as she reached the brothel, she noticed a pair of footsteps leading away that hadn't been there before. Leading from the door towards the doctors..

Fuu's mind began to race and she veered off her course, following the footsteps.

-----

"...her water just broke.."

"..."

"..she should be here any moment, just hold tight.."

"Brunette, she'll be wearing a fancy kimono, can't miss the hussie."

"Erika." Fuu's voice rang eeriely in the cold night. "I should have known it was you who-" A frim hand wrapped itself around her mouth.

"Shut yer face, you wan't to wake the whole neighborhood?" Fuu struggled against the body behind her, Erika's eyes fixing on her every movement.

"You won't be so lucky this time, _Mother,_ I've hired a real criminal to do the job-"

Fuu bit, her teeth scrapping the skin of her captive. He let out a howl before spinning her around to get a good look at her face.

Fuu gasped, ready for the sudden impact of a flying fist-

----

AN: Pleads for forgivness! Im sorry im taking so long, school, work, writers block, molesting freshmen. Gah, but I will not abandon ye who are faithful! I shall always return!


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